Kin honor ‘desaparecidos’ on All Souls’ Day

MANILA, Philippines — Abner Hizarsa was on his way to his daughter’s school in Subic, Zambales, to bring her lunch when he was abducted by unidentified armed men riding a van on March 22, 2007.

That day was the last time his partner, Cresencia dela Cruz, and their three children saw Hizarsa.

Hizarsa was just one of nearly 1,900 “desaparecidos” or “the disappeared”—victims of enforced disappearances—whose families gathered at Claret School Chapel in Quezon City on All Souls’ Day to remember their loved ones.

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The families offered white roses to pictures of their missing kin during the brief program, which was part of a yearly gathering meant to sustain their continuing call for justice.

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READ: Remembering desaparecidos: The unending anxiety of uncertainty

“There’s always the hope that victims of enforced disappearances are still alive. This [event] is a way for families to come together to voice out our demand to surface all victims of enforced disappearances,” Cristina Guevarra, spokesperson for the human rights group Karapatan, told the Inquirer.

Amid her painful experience, Dela Cruz said she is able to find strength to keep searching for justice through the annual gatherings with other families of desaparecidos.

“I always look forward to these gatherings, because this is where I draw my strength from. For other families, there is closure. For us, there is none,” said Dela Cruz.

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READ: What went before: 1,838 desaparecidos since Marcos

Guevarra noted that under the current Marcos administration, 15 victims of enforced disappearances have been recorded. But beginning from the first Marcos administration, there have been over 1,900 victims of enforced disappearances—a number, Guevarra said, that refers only to those who were documented, so the figure could be higher.

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Act of defiance

The families of desaparecidos who gathered at Claret School were joined by the groups Desaparecidos Philippines, Karapatan, and Hustisya, who encouraged the victims’ kin to continue pursuing justice.

“If our relatives were here, we all know that they would not stay away from the struggle in the streets—to demand fair wages and to assert all the rights necessary for a decent life for the Filipino people,” said Ofelia Balleta, secretary general of human rights organization Hustisya.

In a statement, Desaparecidos Philippines chair and spokesperson JL Burgos lamented the failure of legal remedies such as the writs of amparo, habeas data, and habeas corpus to ensure the prosecution and conviction of those behind the enforced disappearances.

He cited the Ombudsman’s dismissal of criminal and administrative complaints filed by abduction survivors Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano against government and military officials over their alleged kidnapping and illegal detention in September 2023.

The group said successive Philippine administrations have also failed to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, ironically citing the existence of a domestic law against the crime even though it has failed to stop the practice.

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“With the government dead set on denying us the truth, the Nov. 2 gathering is ultimately an act of defiance,” said Burgos. /cb